site.btaMore than Half of North Macedonia Citizens Disagree with Inclusion of Bulgarians in Constitution

More than Half of North Macedonia Citizens Disagree with Inclusion of Bulgarians in Constitution
More than Half of North Macedonia Citizens Disagree with Inclusion of Bulgarians in Constitution
Parliament of North Macedonia (BTA Photo)

More than two-thirds (69%) of the citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia completely or partially disagree with the statement that Bulgarians should be included in the constitution of North Macedonia, according to a survey of the Institute for Democracy "Societas Civilis" in Skopje conducted in the beginning of 2023. A total of 54% completely disagree with this statement, which is 13 percentage points (PP) more compared to the answers of a survey conducted in 2022, and about a quarter of respondents completely or partially agree with the statement that Bulgarians should be included in the constitution of North Macedonia.

According to the survey, views on "whether relations between Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia are going for the better" are pessimistic, with 15 percent of respondents fully or partially agreeing with this statement, 75 percent fully or partially disagreeing, and 59 percent fully disagreeing. 

According to the survey, citizens consider Serbia to be North Macedonia's biggest partner in the economic (69%) and security (63%) areas in the region, followed by Albania (15 and 21%, respectively, for economy and security), while Kosovo (7 and 6%), Greece (5 and 7%) and Bulgaria (4 and 3%) have much lower percentages in the assessments.

The survey was carried out within the framework of the Parliamentary Support Programme for the work of the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia, funded by the Government of Switzerland, and was presented in the country's Parliament on Friday. 

On a scale of 1 to 10, the citizens of North Macedonia rated their confidence in the Parliament at 3.4, while the rating for its performance on a five-point scale is 2.2 for 2022.

According to 27% of respondents, the government of North Macedonia has full control over the Parliament, 46% think that the Parliament increases corruption instead of reducing it, and 70% think that a large number of MPs are not ready to take decisions on behalf of citizens, that they are not ready for the commitments arising from the process of European integration, but also that they do not have a sincere will for European integration, the analysis of the survey says.

A dominant part of respondents (80%) believe that MPs always represent their personal interests, the interests of political parties (75%), as well as the interests of business (64%), and that they are to some extent dependent on the will of the leaders of the political parties that nominated them (79%) .

The majority of respondents believe that boycotting Parliamentary work, as well as prolonging debates in order to prevent a certain law or decision from being passed, are not proper ways of expressing political views in the work of Parliament, and they expect a debate on the important political processes in the country in the legislature instead of leadership meetings.

/VE/

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By 12:06 on 29.03.2024 Today`s news

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